Walter Haddow Kay

Walter Haddow Kay was born on 28th April, 1888 at Stewart Place, Bearsden.  His father, William, gave his occupation as a master joiner (master implying some sort of enhanced status from length of time in the job, possibly belonging to a guild of some type).  He had married Walter's mother, Isabella Haddow, two and a half years earlier.

Walter was the middle brother of three, younger than John but older than Hugh - they both reappear later in this story.

By 1891 Walter's father was describing himself as "joiner and builder" in the Census and the family was living at 4 Kirk Place, Bearsden.  By 1895, William was the owner of 16 'properties' on Kirk Place (possibly 4 houses of 4 flats).

In the late 1880s, what we would now call New Kirk Road was called Stewart Place.  The most easterly portion (next to the word "PLACE" in the map) was then been called Kirk Place.

Walter's early life seems to have been dominated by two things: good academic performance and a strong influence of his religious faith on his life.  A profile of him after his death says that his mother was a strong influence on him in this.  We're also told that twice in his childhood he was ill with near-fatal diseases but recovered.

In 1905, he passed exams at Bearsden Public School to become a medical student and was awarded a bursary:

To give some context, average annual earnings were about £70 so this might be the equivalent of about £5000 today.

In 1908 he travelled as far as Dunfermline for a church event:

His mother died in 1908 of a cerebral haemorrhage, her home address given as 9 Kirk Place, Bearsden.

From 1909 he was studying for a degree in English Literature but in his spare time he was taking part in YMCA events (this example from 1911):

He was also assisting in the Foundry Boys Religious Society at Round Toll, something we're told that involved a time commitment which affected his classwork.  (I have not been able to find the location of the Society - one possibility is the UF Church hall on Lyon Street.)

In 1911 he was appointed as assistant at Trinity United Free Church in Glasgow:

This was located at Charlotte Street in the Calton area:

Glasgow Cross is in the top left, Glasgow Green is at the bottom.

He worked in this poor area for three years and developed an intense sympathy for the local people.  He also held open-air meetings on Glasgow Green and greatly enjoyed the debates that follows.

We do not know here he lived during all of this period but in 1913 the electoral roll shows him as a lodger at 11 Craignestock Street; this would have been opposite Templeton's Carpet Factory:

In the summer of 1913 he was awarded his degree, moving on to a Master's in 1914:

This would have been in moral philosophy at the start of his studies in divinity, finishing with him qualifying as a reverend in 1916.  During this time he also worked for two months in a munitions factory.

In 1916 he joined the army; we're told it was only at the urging of friends that he did not enlist earlier, their advice having been to finish his studies.  On his last Sunday evening in Glasgow he was in uniform, holding a street meeting for a missionary friend in Partick, attracting men home on leave because of his uniform and continuing the debate in the church hall.  This left him in high spirits.

His knowledge of chemistry led to him being assigned to the Royal Engineers as a private to work in a unit that released gas in support of British attacks.  

He served in the Beaumont Hamel Sector during that winter.  Around this time, his brother Hugh was awarded the Military Medal for courage in the Battle of Vimy Ridge earlier that year:

He was recommended for a commission, finishing his training in Oxford in the middle of 1917 and became a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders.  He joined them in November 1917.  

On 6th November 1917 his brother Hugh was killed at the end of the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres).

Walter was described as a painstaking and conscientious officer, attentive to the welfare of his men.

On 21st March, 1918 he had just returned to the battalion from home leave.  A massive German attack hit the British army trenches, including 6th Gordons.  Such was the disorder created as the British buckled, then retreated, that many battalion's records of this period are scanty and I can find no record of how Walter died.

In a letter written by his commanding officer, it says his men held a key position and repulsed several attacks before he was killed.  Such was their spirit that his men held out for a further 12 hours before retreating.

He is buried at Beaumetz-Les-Cambrai CWGC Cemetery:

His body had been found by the Germans and buried there in collective graves - he was fortunate in that his name was recorded, many other soldiers of the 51st Highland Division were buried as 'an unknown soldier'.